Friday, November 07, 2014

First, Steve Downie is no saint; he'd probably tell you that. But check out this dirty, unnecessary, bush league hit that Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien put on Downie. This is unacceptable. After the play is over, I believe that Downie has the expectation to not be slambed into the end boards. I don't think that's being unreasonable, right? The play is over, he's scored a goal.

I think the NHL’s Department of Players Safety need to make an example out of Byfuglien. I am thinking a couple of game suspension would be about right. Maybe Big Buff should skate faster.

Good for Wheeler. This is a player who has developed into leader himself over the last few seasons. He led the Jets in scoring last season and was the team's best player down the stretch, showing a great deal of character in the process. It would be a surprise if he’s not named an assistant captain this season.

The Jets need players who aren't afraid to speak their minds, even if they are stating the obvious, and they need players who are going to hold one another accountable. The Jets have missed the playoffs every year they've been in Winnipeg and the players should be demanding of each other if they ever hope to change that trend.

While Wheeler doesn't wear a letter, yet. Sometimes an older player on the team has to call out fellow teammates. In my opinion, that's part of the job description of a team leader. Personally, I am not so sure I would have used the print media to do this, but that's Wheeler's choice.

Hockey season is almost here, goalie are showing off their new paint schemes for their goalie masks. Here's UND goalie Annie Chipman's new mask. Eye Candy Air did the paint job. That's the same company that did Jonathan Quick and Tim Thomas' mask.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Dangerous moment for Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba as he missed a check and was carried off of the ice on a stretcher. As you can see by the video, Trouba attempted to check St. Louis Blues defenseman Jordan Leopold and went face-first into the boards.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

This is one of the stories that emerged today... Apparently, one of the alternative governors of the Winnipeg Jets spoke out of turn and Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs put him back in his place.

Joe Haggerty; CSNNE --- Winnipeg Jets representation at a recent NHL Board of Governors meeting piped up to say it was opposed to engaging in a long, bloody lockout sure to stymie their franchise’s momentum and hurt the game of hockey.

It wasn’t Winnipeg owner Mark Chipman, but rather one of the alternate governors representing the Jets.

Bruins Principal Owner and Chairman of the Board of Governors Jeremy Jacobs answered by reprimanding the Winnipeg representative as one of the “new kids on the block” and informed him that he would know when he was allowed to speak in the NHL board room.

That’s the kind of hawkish, dismissive, bully mentality that's driving the bus for the NHL lockout that's now cancelled games through the middle of December.

“I was disappointed to learn today of a report which claimed an exchange took place between an Alternate Governor of the Winnipeg Jets and Jeremy Jacobs of the Boston Bruins at a recent NHL Board of Governors meeting. I was present throughout all BOG proceedings and can categorically state that no such exchange between Mr. Jacobs and either one of our Alternate Governors - Patrick Phillips or Kevin Cheveldayoff - ever took place. Any suggestion otherwise is completely false.”

Hum, it seems like both sides are starting to sound like a bunch of squabbling kids -- I just want this thing to be over.

I also don't like the fact that every 5-7 years we're going to have to lose parts if not a whole season because the two sides can't come to an agreement on the collective barginning agreement. From everything that I have read lately, it does appear that some of the blame for the lockout lies at the feet of Jeremy Jacobs, which makes no sense to me because he is one of the haves.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Image via WikipediaThis is today's shocking revelation in the NHL. During the present time, when the NHL is concerned about players with concussions, we have a player that is suffering form a concussion for 14 games and doesn't take himself out of the line up.

The 20-year-old left-winger will return to the lineup tonight when the Jets meet the Toronto Maple Leafs at the MTS Centre (7:30 p.m., TSN Jets, TSN 1290).

Kane has missed the last seven games because of a concussion and admitted this morning he may have played with concussion-like symptoms since taking a hit against the New York Islanders on Dec. 20. He played the rest of that game and 14 more before the symptoms became more acute.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Grand Forks, ND – North Dakota and Minnesota have played in some epic battles over the years. One could compare UND vs. UMN Hockey to the famous Hatfield’s and McCoy’s feud, every game is highly contested and usually has a lot of drama. Tonight was no different, as the UND hockey team beat the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers 2-1.

Historically, when the two team’s face off the score sheets tend to fill up with penalty minutes, this game would prove to be highly contested, but not quite as many penalty minutes were called tonight. The games between Minnesota and North Dakota tend to be close games and even series and over 45 seasons of hockey between UND vs. UMN, there have only been five season series sweeps.

Adding to the epic battles over the years, this weekend’s series is also historic; because it will be the last time that UND and UMN will play in a WCHA regular season series in the Ralph Englestad Arena.

After the 2012-13 season, North Dakota will leave the WCHA for the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Minnesota will leave the WCHA for the Big Ten Hockey Conference. Starting during the 2013-14 season WCHA will look very different than it does today. With the reshuffling of the hockey conferences its unknown how much the two teams will play each other in the future after next season. The UND and UMN hockey series is one of the best college hockey series.

At the 18:59 mark of the first period the Gophers would get a five minute power play, UND junior forward Danny Kristo hit Gopher defenseman Ben Marshall from behind into the boards with an elbow to the back of the head and Marshall would crumple to the ice.

Coach Hakstol was asked about how his team responded to the Kristo penalty, "we responded as we have to any bit of adversity that we have run into in the last couple of months, you suck it up and find a way to do the job.” “Mike Parks went up with Knight and Nelson and did a solid job and Taylor Dickin stepped into the fourth line role and did a solid job with his line mates and that’s what guys are expected to do.”

UND would kill off the Kristo major penalty as Minnesota was unable to generate any good scoring opportunities on the power play. North Dakota was able to generate a scoring opportunity shorthanded, but Brock Nelson was stopped by Minnesota goalie Kent Patterson.

Minnesota and North Dakota would trade goals in the second period as Minnesota’s Kyle Rau scored on a nice pass from his line mate Zach Budish.

UND answer the Minnesota goal with nine seconds remaining in the second period. UND defenseman Andrew MacWillam would score the first goal of his UND Hockey career, in his 102nd game, with a howitzer from the point Mario Lamoureux drew the assist on MacWilliams goal.

After the game UND captain Mario Lamoureux was asked about Andrew MacWilliam’s goal, “I always knew Mac would come up with a big time [goal]. I was just glad that I was the one that passed it to him and he buried it, and I was pretty ecstatic when it went in, and it couldn’t have came to a better guy, he is a heart and soul guy and he plays on the edge every single night and brings it every 100 percent effort, pretty proud to see him get it especially in game like this.”

Brock Nelson would get the game winning goal at the 16:25 mark of the third period. After the game Brock Nelson was asked about the game winning goal and had this to say, "[Michael] Parks started it off with a one on one battle in the corner, the puck kind of bounced out, I just wanted to get a puck on net, I had a couple of chances earlier in the game that didn’t go in, so I was just trying to create a chance, saw a couple guys out front and luckily it went in."

North Dakota head hockey coach Dave Hakstol had this to say after the game about the win against the rival, “it was a high energy, hard fought hockey game, obviously when you come out on the good side of those, it was a great win for our team, it was an entertaining high paced game”

Minnesota head coach Don Lucia had this to say about the game, “like all three of the games it was hard fought, they made a play tonight late in the game to win it.” “There wasn’t much space on the rink tonight, both teams battled hard and goaltenders played well and made some timely saves and there wasn’t a lot of offensive chances tonight and it became a cautious game.”

When asked about his team’s trouble scoring against UND on the power play. Lucia said, “They’re a good team, their goaltender played well and we didn’t have a lot of rhythm on the power play. “

Both teams play again tomorrow night at 07:07 pm as UND will look to get the series sweep and attempt to tie the season series 2-2.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Image via WikipediaLol... I was wondering if Roman Augustoviz was trying to create some bulletin board material to fire up the Golden Gophers. Having been to numerous Wednesday press conferences and post game conferences, this is not an uncommon response for Coach Hakstol. In my opinion coach Hakstol is more concerned about his teams mental and physical make up then some meaningless poll ranking.

"We are finding ways to win games any way we can," said UND coach Dave Hakstol, who needs two victories to reach 200. A sweep of the Gophers this weekend at the Ralph would get him to that milestone.

North Dakota is 8-2-1 since being swept by the Gophers in early November.

Asked if the No. 5-rated Gophers are for real this week, Hakstol said, "I an not really worried about them. I care about the guys in our locker room and the steps they are taking. We will be ready to play Friday."

Uh-oh.

UND is coming off a 3-1 victory over Clarkson on Saturday in Winnipeg, Canada. Forward Carter Rowney had two goals in that game. He has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the last 11 games since they played at Mariucci.

Also hot for North Dakota is defenseman Dillon Simpson with 10 assists in 10 games.

* One of the key players hurt is first-line wing Corban Knight, who suffered a lower-body injury three games ago. He has missed the past two games.

Actually UND is 9-3-1 since they were swept by the Gophers, Minnesota on the other hand is 6-6-1 since the UND series.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety Brendan Shanahan threw the book at Deryk Engelland. I think this is the right decision and yesterday I said, "In my opinion you can expect a 2-4 game suspension would be the proper call." Shanahan had no choice in this case, you can not leave your feet to check a player and hit them in the head.

Boston Herald --- “He missed a team breakfast and a team meeting this morning,” said GM Peter Chiarelli, explaining Seguin’s absence from the lineup vs. the Jets. “He didn’t wake up. Honest mistake. But we have team rules. We abide by them. He has to abide by them. So that’s the reason for his scratch.”

The Bruins flew from Pittsburgh late Monday night, arriving at their Winnipeg hotel at around 2 a.m. today. Chiarelli said this was not the first time Seguin has broken such team rules.

“He’s had a couple of instances before,” said the GM. “I don’t see it as a problem. I see it as a young player who sometimes forgets to set his alarm. We gave him a couple of passes (in the past). It’s a young kid who’s learning to be a pro — and is a heck of a player.”

That being said it’s time to grow up and get to the meetings when you’re supposed to, a mandatory meeting means that everyone needs to show up. I also think it’s time for some of his teammates to make sure that he doesn’t miss anymore meetings.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Image by clydeorama via FlickrThis might be good news for the New Jersey Devils, Travis Zajac is a valued member of the New Jersey Devils and had been pretty durable up until this injury. In fact if you look at his Hockey Database page you will see that he has only missed two games in five season before this year.

NJ.COM --- Travis Zajac, who has missed the entire season so far with a torn left Achilles' tendon, is at practice today, having flown into New Jersey over the weekend to tend to some "personal business'' he said. The Devils top center said he skated lightly for the first time on Thursday at home in Winnipeg and will skate again this week after he returns to Winnipeg.

Zajac, who suffered the injury during an off-ice training session over the summer, said he "definitely'' will play this season, but he has no idea when that might be. He said he doesn't have pain as much as tightness that restricts his movements. He said skating was actually easier than walking, because the skate boot provides more support than his normal shoes. He said now that he has skated, he anticipates being able to skate more often -- more than once a week.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Image via WikipediaThis is a story that caught me eye this morning, before the 2011-2012 NHL season has even started; there are rumors of some on the Winnipeg Jets hockey team that are not happy about being in the city of Winnipeg, MB, this is according to sports radio talk show host Bob McCown of the Fan 590 out of Toronto, Ontario… McCown goes on to say that there might be as many as three Winnipeg Jets players that don’t want to play in Winnipeg. I suppose you can look at any roster in the NHL and probably have 2-5 players that are unhappy about being on their team but why bring this up now before the season has even begun.

Winnipeg Free Press --- (Bob) McCown believes players will look past the sold -out building and gold-plate ownership while coming to the conclusion that this isn't a good place to earn a seven-figure living.

"Guys are not going to want to play there," said McCown.

"I have first-hand knowledge of no less than three members of the Atlanta Thrashers, no fewer than three, who are now Winnipeg Jets, who are actively pursuing alternatives. Not the least of the problems, there's no place to live, in the style that an NHL player has become accustomed to. Are there upscale homes? I'm sure there are. But they're not available and they're not for rent."

Ladd's response to this talk was succinct.

"I haven't heard that, but if there are guys that don't want to be in Winnipeg then we don't want them anyway," said Ladd. "We want people that want to be part of a good hockey organization that's going to create a winning culture. From everyone I've talked to -- I haven't heard any of that."

Friday, June 24, 2011

Image via WikipediaTSN.CA is reporting that the Winnipeg team will now be called the Jets. I believe that this is the right move, nice to see the Jets back in Winnipeg, Manitoba where they belong. Claude Noel has also been name head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, Noel was the head coach of the Manitoba Moose.

The team, which is expected to officially announce their name before making the 7th overall pick in tonight's NHL Entry Draft, is reportedly going to go with the very popular Jets nickname.

You can watch the Draft live on TSN, TSN.ca and TSN Mobile TV tonight at 7pm et/4pm pt. Make sure to check out TSN.ca for a live hockey blog with TSN Analyst Craig Button, beginning at 6:30 pm et/3:30 pm pt.

After an explosive Thursday that watched big name players get moved, Friday could be just as volatile as the NHL Entry Draft goes tonight in Minnesota.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Image by Jordon via FlickrThe Winnipeg NHL team _________ ( the what-evers) are going to open with Les Habitants on Sunday, October 9th at 4 p.m. at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Go ________...

ST. PAUL, MINN. - Break out the tuxedos folks, the Montreal Canadiens will serve as the first regular-season opponent for Winnipeg’s new NHL franchise.

Although the full NHL schedule will be released on Thursday afternoon, True North confirmed Wednesday evening that they’ll host the fabled Habs on Sunday, Oct. 9 at 4 p.m. at the MTS Centre in a game that will serve as the season and home opener for Winnipeg.

“To be honest, I could care less about who we’re playing,” Winnipeg captain Andrew Ladd said in a text message. “It’s going to be more about the first game back in Winnipeg and how crazy the fans will be!”

Manitobans will get a double dose of scheduling pleasure on Thursday.

In the morning, the preseason schedule for Winnipeg’s NHL team will be unveiled.

Winnipeg general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff revealed on Wednesday that Winnipeg has simply picked up the preseason schedule the Atlanta Thrashers planned to play.

Winnipeg will play seven preseason tilts, three at home, three on the road and one neutral site game against the Ottawa Senators on Sept. 26 in Conception Bay South in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Having a game in the same province as their American Hockey League affiliate is a bonus.

“It was very fortuitous that the exhibition schedule for Atlanta already had a game already scheduled out there,” said Cheveldayoff. “For us, it’s great. It’s an exciting time for the fans of Newfoundland to really get to see a lot of players that could be there way, but certainly a lot of players who will be in Winnipeg as well.”

That game against the Senators will be part of the Kraft Hockeyville promotion

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The NHL will officially will now only be about 150 miles from Grand Forks, ND. I believe one reader told me I was out of touch and delusional if I thought that the NHL would make it's return to Winnipeg, Manitoba. I guess I wasn't delusional after all. The vote to move the Thrashers to Winnipeg was unanimous as well. For all of you're Jets news visit the Illegal Curve blog.

From general manager to coach to team president, Waddell endured the ups and downs—mostly downs—as the franchise struggled on and off the ice.

After 13 years and only one playoff appearance that produced no wins, Tuesday was the day for Waddell and Atlanta to finally say goodbye to its second hockey team.

The NHL board of governors unanimously approved the sale and relocation of the Thrashers to Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Tuesday, clearing the final big hurdle in the process.

“We’ve been through the emotions and the frustrations the last few weeks, but when I look back and being there 13 years, it’s been a great run,” said Waddell, who served as general manager from the start until the 2009-10 season. “Since ’98 when I got hired, there are only four general managers that are currently with their teams.

“You’ve got to look at the positives. To be able to stay in one place for so long, it’s been tremendous for me.”

The same can’t be said of the team that once featured star players such as Dany Heatley(notes) and Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) and Marian Hossa(notes), but couldn’t keep them for one reason or another.

True North Sports and Entertainment bought the team last month and announced it was bringing the Thrashers to Winnipeg, which lost the Jets to Phoenix after the 1995-96 season.

“Obviously, everybody is sorry and distressed and unhappy that we found ourselves in the circumstance where our franchise was leaving Atlanta,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “We’re particularly sorry for the fans that are there, but obviously based on the reception that we’ve gotten, everybody is extremely excited about the opportunities in Winnipeg for our return.”

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Wow!!! I can’t be the only one that thinks the NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is a smug little pompous jerk? When I watch Gary Bettman talk in press conferences on television or listen to him speak on XM radio; Bettman reminds me of one of the many empty suits that make up Washington, D.C., arrogant, condescending, smug, gets short with people… Frankly I think Bettman is a jerk the way he conducts himself. I would have loved to hook up a lie detector during his press conference today.

Jeff Schultz; AJC.COM --- This is how it ends: With the weasel of a commissioner not stepping foot in the city, with another season passing without a playoff game, with a lying ownership group maintaining it did all it could to save a franchise that in reality it spent most of seven years wrecking.

Atlanta has lost an NHL expansion team to a Canadian outpost for the second time. The Thrashers are going to Winnipeg just like the Flames went to Calgary in 1980. A noon press conference today is expected to make this long, slow death official.

This isn’t about the fans or the market or certainly Gary Bettman’s fictional “covenant” with fans, which I believe he left in the same sock drawer with his conscience. It’s about greed and abandonment, plain and simple. It’s about a disingenuous ownership group, which had long lost any semblance of credibility, serving up fans swill and gruel and then wondering why the turnstiles sleep at night.

They’ll tell you they care. They don’t. They’re walking away with a fat check. While you mourn the loss of a franchise, they’re waving goodbye with one middle finger.

The NHL is leaving a city that never really was given a chance. It’s going back to a city that it left 15 years ago and that has grown by about 60,000 people and a couple of doughnut shops since. They will be discussing this decision one day at business schools, right after the sections on Charles Ponzi and Enron.